Gallium Coolant Revolutionizes Data Centers: Less Energy, More Efficiency
Streaming, cloud storage, and artificial intelligence consume enormous amounts of energy. Additionally, servers in data centers heat up significantly due to these high-tech trends, resulting in nearly 40% of this energy being consumed by cooling systems. An innovative material containing gallium, developed by Chinese and US researchers, could soon change that.
Gallium Reduces Cooling Energy Requirements by 13%
The new material is based on aluminum nitride and galinstan, a room-temperature liquid alloy of gallium, indium, and tin. Scientists and engineers at the University of Texas at Austin developed the interface material with the participation of researchers from Sichuan University and Huazhong University of Science and Technology in China. According to the scientists, its use can reduce the energy required for data center cooling by 13%.
AI Consumes 200 Terawatt-Hours of Electricity
By 2030, the energy demand of data centers is expected to increase by 160%, according to a Goldman Sachs study. AI demand alone is projected to rise by 200 terawatt-hours from 2023 to 2030—enough electricity to power 57 million households for one year. This would most likely be associated with immense greenhouse gas emissions, which could be reduced by lowering the required cooling power. According to the researchers, the improved cooling provided by the new material would also reduce the energy demand of data centers independent of cooling, simply because the devices consume less when cooled. Gallium thus once again serves the environment as part of green technology.
Raw Material Demand Grows with Megatrends
Researchers see potential applications for the metal compound not only in energy savings. Energy-intensive sectors such as aerospace could also become more effective through galinstan. In any case, the demand for new materials and the raw materials required for them, such as gallium and indium, is growing alongside these megatrends.